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Rowing's Varsity Eight Boat Heads To NCAAs

This Week -- The USC women's rowing team is sending its 12th-ranked Varsity Eight boat to the 2004 NCAA Championships for the sixth-consecutive year as an at-large selection. The championships take place this week, May 28-30, on Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova, Calif. The Trojans, whose Varsity Eight boat placed sixth at last years championships, will look for a higher finish in this year's grand final. USC has been ranked as high as No. 11 by the USRowing/Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association Coaches Poll this season. Live scoring and more information on the event is available on the internet at www.hornetsports.com or at JAMCO Real-Time Racing.

The championships consists of three events - Varsity Eight, JV Eight and Fours - and each covering a 2,000-meter course. The team championship is comprised of 12 teams, and each team is required to field two boats of eight rowers each and one boat of four rowers. In addition, four eight-women boats from institutions not represented in the team competition (such as USC) are selected.

USC Lineup/Rankings -- The Varsity Eight boat enters the championships as the third-ranked boat in the West Region according to the NCAA Women's Rowing Committee.

At the 2004 Pac-10 Championships -- For the first time in program history, USC advanced all four boats - a Varsity Eight, JV Eight, Varsity Four and Novice Eight - to the grand finals of the 2004 Pac-10 Championships held on Sunday, May 16, on Lake Natoma. USC's solid performance in all four events earned the Women of Troy a fourth-place overall finish with 48 points. California (69 points), Washington (62) and Washington State (50) finished first, second and third, respectively. Leading the way was the Women of Troy's Varsity Eight boat, which placed third in a time of 6:50.4. In the JV Eight grand final, USC finished the 2,000-meter course in a time of 7:04.9 for fourth place. The Trojans' Novice Eight crew, displaying the greatest improvement from season's past, made its first-ever Grand Final appearance. The Trojans placed sixth in a time of 7:24.3 and then completed the day by finishing sixth in the varsity four grand final (8:06.0).

Last Year At NCAA Championships -- USC's Varsity Eight boat made its second-ever appearance in the Grand Final for an sixth place overall finish at the 2003 NCAA Championships at Eagle Creek Reservoir in Indianapolis, Ind. In one of the closest races of the day, Harvard won the Varsity Eight individual event which helped clinch the overall team title for the Crimson.

USC History at NCAA Championships -- Since the USC women's rowing program began offering scholarships in 1994, the Trojans have made six consecutive appearances at the NCAA Championships - 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003. Most notably, USC captured the Women's Varsity Four national title in 1998 by defeating eventual 1999 champion Brown.

Babraj's in their Second Year At USC -- Zenon and Kelly Babraj are now in their second season at the helm of the USC women's rowing program. With a long list of accomplishments at the international and national levels, Zenon Babraj serves as the program director and co-head coach with Kelly. The pair took over in June, 2002, as only the second coaching staff in the history of the women's rowing program. The Babraj's are assisted by Craig Webster, a former head coach at UCLA with over seven years of collegiate coaching experience. Webster is in charge of the novice program.